The impact of co-creation on enhancing trust, ethical and sustainability perceptions of luxury fashion brands, and willingness to pay for luxury goods

: to what extent do luxury brands inviting consumers to co-create sustainable fashion products lead to a word-of-mouth effect?

Abstract

From irreversible damage to the planet and its raw materials, to involvement in deforestation and plastic pollution, to high water consumption and disregard for human rights, the production and consumption of luxury products has led to worrisome social and environmental complications. Against this backdrop, some companies started to incorporate corporate social responsibility measures to act more ethically, while luxury brands have made some efforts to adopt more sustainable and innovative practices. Yet, the way these practices have been communicated has been ineffective. Co-creation, a process where consumers are part of companies’ product development process, has emerged as an interesting tool to improve a brand's sustainable and ethical perception. To further examine co-creation’s role, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of co-creation on word-of-mouth, consumer trust, sustainability perceptions, consumer perceived ethicality, and willingness to pay. Moreover, the mediating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness was tested on that relationship. The results show that co-creation has a positive impact on word-of-mouth and brand valuations. They also show that perceived consumer effectiveness indirectly influences the relationship between co-creation and word-of-mouth, consumer trust, and sustainability perceptions, while partially mediating the relationship between co-creation and consumer perceived ethicality. This dissertation provides important theoretical and practical contributions that strengthen the sustainable and ethical role of brands in the luxury sector. It also provides important implications for companies interested in learning more about the positive effects of co-creation and the benefits its implementation can bring to the company as a means of communicating with consumers.

Date of Award	9 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Vera Herédia Colaço (Supervisor)